"The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." Orwell

"Men are so simple of mind and so dominated by immediate needs that the deceitful man can easily find those ready to be deceived."
Machiavelli

"The demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.." H.L. Mencken

Friday, September 13, 2013

Mindblown

At least they're making it easy to see: there's no longer even a pretense that Rs are about anything but rejecting whatever Obama is for, even if it's what they were demanding of him before he was for it. The Republican Party has completely abandoned seriousness, wholly endorsed assholery as modus operandi. I guess they're confident that their voters are like-minded: if Obama is for it, we're agin' it. No need for policy; and certainly not for coherence:

When the full story of the Obama administration's clumsy involvement in, and (possible) disengagement with, Syria is told, we'll have a clearer sense of whether it was bungled all the way, or whether a diplomatic resolution was actually the product of a credible military threat and clever negotiating. Or maybe a bit of both.

But whoever tells that story should reserve a footnote for the handful of politicians and public figures who did a complete about-face from opposing President Obama's proposed military strikes to mocking -- and even rooting against -- an unexpected diplomatic alternative.

If you took both of those positions you have some 'splainin' to do.

Karl Rove offers a helpful example, having insisted a few weeks ago that Obama go to Congress because lawmakers would obviously approve a resolution to use force, only to then condemn Obama for having gone to Congress because there's no way lawmakers will approve a resolution to use force.

But Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) has been even more brazen. He demanded that the president answer his questions about Syria and then asked no questions when he met with the president; he supported military strikes until Obama endorsed the same idea; and as Brian noted, Cornyn is now questioning the value of a possible diplomatic solution.

In other words, the #2 Republican in the Senate is, quite literally, against whatever President Obama is for -- even when the president changes course.

In a democracy that, heretofore, has succeeded because of the good that comes from serious conversations between people with differing approaches, one can only conclude the obvious: we're screwed. The Republican Party is no longer a serious player; and those that mindlessly support it are doing so, either blindly or willingly, with total disregard for addressing issues seriously. Having that black guy in that white house has, I must conclude, simply blown their minds. I can't think of anything else at this point. Because from the point of view of logic, of politics, of history, of humanity, it simply makes no sense in any other context.

For The Sake of My Sanity

Some will know me from my other blog, "Surgeonsblog." Of late I've given over to frothing at the mouth as the world descends into stupidity, and our politics and our citizens seem, in numbers enough to be meaningful, unable to see it. So for now I'm leaving surgery writing behind, if for no other reason than to defuse and diffuse my unrelenting sense of doom, and with no expectation of making a difference. These are things that, to me, are obvious. Except that, apparently, they aren't.

RWS™

RWS™: For those who drop by here in the middle, and wonder what it means: it's my shorthand for Right Wing Screamers, which includes such a long list it's tiresome to type it. (I distinguish these blowhards from thoughtful conservatives, of whom I sort of take it on faith that there must still be some.) You know who I mean: Palin, Beck, O'Reilly, Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter, Breitbart (RIP), Malkin, Savage, Levin, Ingraham, Doocey (more of a drooler than a screamer), Hewitt, Goldberg, Gingrich, Kristol, Scarborough (+/-), Bachmann, Inhofe, Bond, Broun, Boehner, Kelley, Santorum, Cain. To name but a few. Behold them in their unrepentant disregard for reality: the RWS™